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Hi everyone, today we have in our studio two guests from Italy. They're both wine experts and entrepreneurs themselves who have extensive experience in the wine industry, and also in promoting Italian wines, including Prosecco in China.
First of all, let's say hi to Matteo and Mikelino.
Hi, hi, everyone.
Hello, hello, everyone.
And welcome to the studio.
First of all, I would like to ask both of you to give us a little bit of an idea of what you do. Could Matteo?
So I actually work for one of the biggest importers and distributors in China. I work as a senior brand manager, not just for Italian wines, but for more than 28 brands from all around the world. And I'm in China 4 years, 20 years’ experience in the wine business.
And based on our previous talk, you basically grew up with the entire wine culture, right?
My family owns a small vineyard, a place called Valdobbiadene, which is the core area of Prosecco; and I worked in a winery before for 10 years, I worked in Maldives and Dubai as in hospitality. I worked in New York, and then a little bit in Moscow for a short period of time, and Shanghai.
OK, a true expert. And Mikelino.
I am an entrepreneur. I live in Shanghai, I work in Shanghai, people know me here as the wine guy, which is the name of my company, I thought it was suitable.
I live in China since 15 years and I am a sommelier graduated by the Italian Sommelier Association. And wine is my passion.
Mikelino, you said wine is your passion, and this is very interesting because when I talk to people who work in the wine industry, this tends to be the general feeling, general sentiment, a lot of people they would say you think about wine, it's not just drinking, it's about socializing, it's about a lifestyle.
Would you agree with that?
It is, actually, I didn't always work in wine, but in the very end, the life brought me to work with my passion. And also was… many people ask me and say, why don't you work in wine? Because people were referring to me for some wine suggestions. Where do I buy this? Where do I get that?
And finally, I decided to move on and around 10 years ago, I started devoting my life to this business, even my wife finds it boring because she says I always talk about wine.
Honestly speaking from a little bit of my own experience as a drinker, a lover of wine, obviously I'm no way an expert. I always remember before the pandemic I used to go to Italy a lot, I absolutely loved the country. When I went to Italy, sometimes I would join my local friends or new friends for aperitivo. Am I correct in pronouncing that?
Yes. You pronounced it correctly. Aperitivo is a very important moment our social life in Italy, no matter if it's during the day or during the evening.
So what is aperitivo?
Aperitivo is a culture. Basically, it's the moments when usually finish your work or during weekends you get with your friends, usually before dinner, and you have a drink altogether, it’s a very social thing.
And then this actually can get into a dinner thing as well. Which why years ago aperitivo was emerged with the word dinner, which is ‘Cena’ in Italian. And we started calling it ‘Apericena’ which is ‘Aperitivo’ and ‘Dinner’.
So it basically you start with a drink, then use some small bites and cold cuts and pizza, and then goes into a 2 or 3 hours...
2 or 3 hours?
It can be, yeah, I mean, back in the day when I was in Italy…but that happened when I go back in my hometown now as well, can be we meet at 6, 6:30, and then we can start drinking and eating and finishing out at 11. That's… sometimes it's quite normal.
I guess especially on a hot summer day, when people are just basically standing around, maybe even outside and then just mingling with one another.
No. That happens also in winter. It's every season…Four-season thing.
It is every season.
Every season.
In summer, it's definitely easier because…
Regardless of weather....
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